A drunk disability pensioner who launched an expletive-laden tirade that "ruined" an Anzac Day dawn service has been fined $200 for behaving in an offensive manner.
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Dubbo man Gavin Waller was seated behind the cenotaph in Victoria Park when he deliberately and loudly interrupted the dawn service multiple times.
Your behaviour was upsetting to people who were there. Your behaviour would have ruined the ceremony
- Magistrate Theresa Hamilton told Gavin Waller
The Westview Caravan Park resident swore, forcibly coughed and muttered incoherent statements.
"[He] did this during quiet times of the ceremony to ensure that his interruptions were heard by the most amount of people," police said in a facts document presented to Dubbo Local Court on Wednesday.
"[He] then commenced the use of obscene language."
When police approached 59-year-old Waller they noticed he was drinking out of a bottle of bourbon and Coke.
Police said Waller appeared intoxicated and asked police what they wanted before hurling abuse at random people who he inferred had treated him badly.
As he was being arrested, police said Waller "continued his offensive and disrespectful behaviour by yelling, causing the crowd's attention to be diverted from the ceremony".
In court Waller pleaded guilty to behaving in an offensive manner.
His legal representative said Waller suffered from schizophrenia, a mental illness that caused intense episodes of psychosis involving delusions and hallucinations.
"Your behaviour was upsetting to people who were there," Magistrate Theresa Hamilton told Waller.
"Your behaviour would have ruined the ceremony," she said.
Waller sat silently in court as he awaited judgement.
He was convicted and fined $200.
In NSW the maximum penalty for behaving in an offensive manner near a public place or school is three months imprisonment or a $660 fine.
About 300 people attended the dawn service.
